The five candidates running in the June 3 San Diego city attorney’s race gathered at University City High School last Wednesday for another in a long list of debates that resembled recent, heated San Diego City Council meetings. The candidates answered audience-posed questions moderated by the League of Women Voters, which co-sponsored the event with the University City Community Association and La Jolla Village News.
The candidates brought up a recurring theme throughout the evening’s debate “” politics tainting the city attorney’s role, and mainly its effects on decisions to take specific cases. Some claimed that if elected, they would take fewer cases, while others said they would continue taking difficult cases.
Incumbent San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre helped set the high school’s stage, staring into the distance while the two current council members attacked his past, but he countered by pointing out current allegations of misconduct regarding the council members and the city’s pension fund.
Candidate Brian Maienschein, District 5 councilman, said, “[Aguirre] held press conferences saying ‘everyone’s a crook.’ If that’s true, then you need to turn that evidence over.”
Aguirre responded by asking the audience to read his interim reports, 2, 6, 18 and 19, which he posted on the Internet.
“Read those reports,” Aguirre said. “These people siphoned money from infrastructure … in the amount of $1.5 million.”
Candidate Scott Peters, San Diego City Council president and District 1 councilman, said, “Basic legal advice is not being dispensed.”
Peters said if elected, he would give good legal advice and help solve problems.
“I get along with everybody except one person,” Peters said, alluding to his relationship with the current city attorney.
The undercurrent of tension between the city attorney and the two council members continued. When asked what the city attorney’s role is, Aguirre said that his “primary job is to make sure that disobeying the law is not a choice.”
Aguirre said, “Developers and unions control decision making [in city council] … Peters was controlled by the unions.”
Aguirre reiterated that both Maienschein and Peters were involved in the city’s pension debacle, which includes allegations of council members voting to underfund pension obligations to increase pension benefits but push the costs off to the future.
While the trio quibbled, Judge Jan Goldsmith, former Poway mayor, offered evenhanded answers.
Goldsmith said the city attorney should “represent the city but be accountable to the public “” not be the mayor “” and not do what the press wants.”
Goldsmith said he’s running for city attorney because “it’s in a state of shambles.
“I’ll only take cases if they have merit,” Goldsmith said. “Not for political reasons.”
Amy Lepine, the self-described fresh and clean candidate, promised to go after tough cases but also to make nice with the mayor and city council.
As an attorney who used to work for Aguirre, Lepine said she was disenchanted but that she has “no conflicted votes and no special interest money.”
“I practice law every day,” Lepine said. “I’ll take the hard cases and I’ll take the hard line. I’m not afraid of that.
“I’m the only one up here that will take the politics out of this,” she said, “and that will take the egos out of this.”
All the candidates were asked about their stance on one of the most controversial issues in the community, the Regents Road Bridge Project. While Lepine said she hadn’t had time to research the issue and Goldsmith said he didn’t have a position, the other candidates capitalized on the issue.
“Most people know I’m for the Regents Road Bridge,” Peters said. “It’s a decision for the city council and the mayor to make.”
“It’s not normally the type of thing I’d support,” Maienschein said. But after what he went through with the fires in his district, he said he supports the project for safety reasons.
“It’s imperative that we follow the law whenever there’s a hotly contested issue,” Aguirre said.
In closing, the candidates reiterated their positions.
“Eight and a half years ago, you have me a chance … I’m asking you to help me,” Aguirre said. “Take my signs.”
For more information on the candidates, visit www.mikeaguirreforcityattorney.com; www.lepineforcityattorney.com; www.petersforsandiego.com; www.brianforsandiego.com; www.jangoldsmithforcityattor-ney.com.